Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
There's an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True kindness requires action and effort, rather than merely avoiding trouble.
In this quote, John Steinbeck emphasizes that kindness should not be passive or inactive. Instead, it highlights the importance of actively engaging in acts of kindness, rather than simply refraining from negative behavior due to a desire to avoid complications or exertion. This perspective invites us to confront our responsibilities toward helping others and question the motivations behind our actions labeled as kindness.
Themes
KindnessActionLazinessEffortService
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one might say, 'We need to move beyond inactive kindness, as Steinbeck warns, and actively engage in helping those in need.'
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes βAt one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
John SteinbeckRead
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
John SteinbeckRead
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
John SteinbeckRead
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
John SteinbeckRead
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